#31 Voices of Dragons by Carrie Vaughn
Kay has never seen a dragon before, despite the fact that she lives close to the border that separates human from dragon territory. That is
until the day she slips and falls into a river while rock climbing, washing her across the border. Kay is rescued by a dragon named Artegal. At first Kay is terrified, but as the two begin to talk they become friends. Then a military plane goes down in in dragon territory, sparking a war between the two races. Will Kay and Artegal's friendship be enough to stop a war, or are they too powerless to do anything?
It seems like no matter where I turn nowadays, another adult author is crossing the border to YA. When I heard that Carrie Vaughn was writing her first teen novel, Voices of Dragons, I was really excited. The premise is admittedly far form unique, especially with the Dreamworks film “How to Train Your Dragon” also being released this month. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for these types of books, but the lack of originality really didn't bother me. I loved watching the growing friendship between Kay and Artegal, and learning about their world. Where the book really comes alive is in the scenes of flight, where Kay uses her hiking equipment to create a harness so she can ride Artegal. Vaughn does such a fantastic job of describing the movement of the dragon's body and the experience of soaring through the air that I began to wonder if she was writing from first hand experience, impossible as that is.
Where the book falters at first is in characterization. At the beginning of the book, I felt as if there was a wall between me and the characters, especially as they deal with everyday teenager stuff like finding a dress for homecoming. As we are drawn deeper into the story, this became less of an issue. I was a little iffy on the romantic plotline between Kay and Jon first, but I think that's okay because Kay's not too sure about how she feels either. Oftentimes in YA lit, we see a teenage girl completely throwing herself into a relationship, body and soul, at the mere drop of a hat. Not all teenagers develop emotionally at this speed, so it was nice to see Vaughn paint a different type of courtship, marked by awkwardness and confusion as Kay tries to decide if she's ready for a relationship, and what a romantic relationship really means.
One of the things that surprised me about Voices of Dragons is how clean it is. That's not to say that Vaughn's adult books are endless orgies with a side of gore and violence, but Dragons is free of any heavy swearing, and glosses over much of the violence. The subject of sex is brought up but not explored graphically. This makes this book stand out a bit from a lot of YA out there these days. In fact, the books clean nature, combined with the fact that the teenagers use little slang, and we don't get too many references to technology (save for cellphones), often made the book feel a lot older than it is. This of course was not a bad thing, in fact it made me feel a little nostalgic as it reminded me of the books I read at twelve to fourteen. A teenage audience should still be able to relate to the story, especially the scenes that criticize the media's tendency to hype up current events.
Although Voice of Dragons is at times awkward and is not quite as engaging as Vaughn's adult novels, it's still a worthy debut into the YA scene. It doesn't necessarily end of a cliffhanger, there's still plenty of story left to tell by the end. If Vaughn decides to publish a sequel, I will be sure to pick it up.
Rating: four stars
Length: 309 pages
Source: Borders Express
Challenge: This book is part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
Similar Books: For other books about dragon riders, check out Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern Series, Christopher Paolini's Eragon, and Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon ( my review).
Other books I've read by this author: Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty goes to Washington, Kitty takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand ( my review),Kitty Raises Hell ( my review), Kitty's House of Horrors ( my review)
xposted to bookish , temporaryworlds and goodreads
until the day she slips and falls into a river while rock climbing, washing her across the border. Kay is rescued by a dragon named Artegal. At first Kay is terrified, but as the two begin to talk they become friends. Then a military plane goes down in in dragon territory, sparking a war between the two races. Will Kay and Artegal's friendship be enough to stop a war, or are they too powerless to do anything?
It seems like no matter where I turn nowadays, another adult author is crossing the border to YA. When I heard that Carrie Vaughn was writing her first teen novel, Voices of Dragons, I was really excited. The premise is admittedly far form unique, especially with the Dreamworks film “How to Train Your Dragon” also being released this month. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for these types of books, but the lack of originality really didn't bother me. I loved watching the growing friendship between Kay and Artegal, and learning about their world. Where the book really comes alive is in the scenes of flight, where Kay uses her hiking equipment to create a harness so she can ride Artegal. Vaughn does such a fantastic job of describing the movement of the dragon's body and the experience of soaring through the air that I began to wonder if she was writing from first hand experience, impossible as that is.
Where the book falters at first is in characterization. At the beginning of the book, I felt as if there was a wall between me and the characters, especially as they deal with everyday teenager stuff like finding a dress for homecoming. As we are drawn deeper into the story, this became less of an issue. I was a little iffy on the romantic plotline between Kay and Jon first, but I think that's okay because Kay's not too sure about how she feels either. Oftentimes in YA lit, we see a teenage girl completely throwing herself into a relationship, body and soul, at the mere drop of a hat. Not all teenagers develop emotionally at this speed, so it was nice to see Vaughn paint a different type of courtship, marked by awkwardness and confusion as Kay tries to decide if she's ready for a relationship, and what a romantic relationship really means.
One of the things that surprised me about Voices of Dragons is how clean it is. That's not to say that Vaughn's adult books are endless orgies with a side of gore and violence, but Dragons is free of any heavy swearing, and glosses over much of the violence. The subject of sex is brought up but not explored graphically. This makes this book stand out a bit from a lot of YA out there these days. In fact, the books clean nature, combined with the fact that the teenagers use little slang, and we don't get too many references to technology (save for cellphones), often made the book feel a lot older than it is. This of course was not a bad thing, in fact it made me feel a little nostalgic as it reminded me of the books I read at twelve to fourteen. A teenage audience should still be able to relate to the story, especially the scenes that criticize the media's tendency to hype up current events.
Although Voice of Dragons is at times awkward and is not quite as engaging as Vaughn's adult novels, it's still a worthy debut into the YA scene. It doesn't necessarily end of a cliffhanger, there's still plenty of story left to tell by the end. If Vaughn decides to publish a sequel, I will be sure to pick it up.
Rating: four stars
Length: 309 pages
Source: Borders Express
Challenge: This book is part of the 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge
Similar Books: For other books about dragon riders, check out Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern Series, Christopher Paolini's Eragon, and Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon ( my review).
Other books I've read by this author: Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty goes to Washington, Kitty takes a Holiday, Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand ( my review),Kitty Raises Hell ( my review), Kitty's House of Horrors ( my review)
xposted to bookish , temporaryworlds and goodreads